Main menu

Post navigation

Don’t Touch God’s Anointed

I saw something recently that brought back childhood memories. Growing up in the word-of-faith movement (for a couple of years, anyways), I sometimes heard people respond to the pastor/prophet as “God’s Anointed”. This comes from Psalms 105:15:

“Do not touch my anointed ones;
do my prophets no harm.”

So I stumbled across a facebook post with this verse. A single verse that, out of context, only furthers to divide clergy and laity. It ascribes divinity to certain humans, and misses the application to Christians today. Why? Here is a short list of reasons:

1. This verse is directed specifically at kings and prophets of Israel. Good exegesis (interpretation/understanding of scripture) dictates that we can’t ascribe a greater meaning to scripture than what the original writer was writing to the original reader.

2. It means specifically to not cause them physical harm (Hebrew word נָגַע, or “naga”). Whenever you hear it today, people are generally trying to protect esteem or position. People usually doesn’t mean, “Don’t punch the pastor”.

3. David did not touch Saul physically (in fact he killed the warrior that killed Saul), but the former shepherd launched a P.R. campaign that completely unraveled Saul’s credibility.

4. Samuel rebuked Saul for not obeying God’s direction. Saul’s rebellion against God meant that God’s recognition of Saul as King (1 Samuel 15:23) was removed.

5. All Christians are now grafted into the body of Christ. Are there more anointed people? Certainly there are leaders, but does God’s spirit exist to a greater extent in leaders? No. 1 John 2:27, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, 1 Corinthians 12:14.

So the next time someone tells you not to touch God’s anointed, tell them: A. You’re generally opposed to fisticuffs, B. You’re one of God’s anointed too.